On Nov. 7, 1960, William Tines was electrocuted in the Tennessee electric chair. The next execution in Tennessee was Robert Glen Coe in 2000.
During this 40- year period, Tennessee continued its historical trend of executing fewer citizens than any other Southern state. From 2000-2017 the slow pace of executions continued with six people killed by the state.
Then in 2018 and 2019, three men each year were executed, moving Tennessee from having one of the least-used death chambers to one of the most. Three more executions are scheduled for February, June and August this year with more to come from the Tennessee Supreme Court.
At a crossroads once again
The state is at a crossroads on this matter.
The last time we reached such a situation was in the 1980’s. U.S. District Judge John Nixon intervened when the condemned petitioned for relief due to inadequate prison conditions and lack of mental health treatment. The railroad train to the electric chair was sidetracked temporarily.
Judge Nixon died in December. Perhaps it is just as well he did not live to see the abandonment of due process and concern for the profound constitutional issues that characterize these cases. The judicial retreat on the death penalty leaves these matters to the executive branch and Gov. Bill Lee.
One would think that if a prisoner had seven current and former correctional officers testifying for him for saving their lives and the victim’s family also wishing that he not be executed, the prisoner would have the prospect of clemency. This is Nick Sutton’s situation, and he is scheduled to be electrocuted on Feb. 20.
Indeed, clemency was granted in a Georgia death penalty case in January along these grounds. But Lee has shown no such inclination to grant relief. He denied clemency in all three death penalty cases he reviewed in 2019.
Lee’s actions on the death penalty bring to mind another crossroads, this one in Mississippi. Blues legend tells us that Robert Johnson, who lived in neo-slavery on a Mississippi plantation, bargained with the devil at a rural crossroads. The deal was he could become a great blues man and the devil could have his soul. This was the beginning of the Delta blues.
Tennessee’s own deal with the devil
Of course, Lee would not knowingly bargain with the devil. However, when “Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,” as we learn in II Corinthians 11:14, identifying evil can be a tricky proposition. Choosing who lives and dies, an act for God, not humans, can only be a soul-corrupting process.
The way of the world is to diminish human life, to find some worthy of life and others not. When it comes to the death penalty, the disguise Satan assumes is usually political success and popularity. A governor believes being “tough on crime” ensures a political future. If some have to be executed for success to occur, so be it. The end justifies the means.
For over 40 years I have seen governors throughout the South respond to this siren call.
Such thinking is what the apostle Paul disdainfully called “the wisdom of the world.” It does not follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. In order to execute people, one has to strike a bargain that seems attractive but betrays the Christian faith.
The deal is offered by the false “angel of light.” It is not offered by the God who in Deuteronomy places before us “the choice of life and death” and asks us to “choose life.”
Source: tennessean.com, Opinion; Joe Ingle, February 17, 2020. The Rev. Joseph B. Ingle is a United Church of Christ minister.
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
